Getting To Know A Rising ‘Pheonix’ Who Reached Hockey’s Highest Level

Check out our detailed profile of Los Angeles Kings/Ontario Reign hockey goalie Phoenix Copley, a proud Alaskan and angler, in our sister magazine Alaska Sporting Journal. I also wrote a little about Copley, who leads Ontario in the American Hockey League playoffs starting tonight, in our current April issue.

I wasn’t able to cover a lot of hockey in my sports reporting career, but when I did, I almost always found the players and coaches I interviewed forthcoming, down to earth and insightful.

As a massive fan of the sport, I’ve enjoyed writing about several players with ties to California’s National Hockey League teams, including former San Jose Sharks captain Owen Nolan, Willie Mitchell of the Los Angeles Kings and Nate Thompson while he played with the Anaheim Ducks. They also share a love of the outdoors. Goalie Pheonix Copley (that’s indeed the correct spelling of his first name), who is part of the Kings organization and currently plays for the team’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Ontario Reign, was also delightful to chat with.

I wrote a detailed profile of Copley in our sister magazine, Alaska Sporting Journal, about his early days growing up in North Pole, Alaska (yes, indeed, that’s an actual place), his love of fishing and the grinding and grit it’s taken him to go from undrafted player to having a respectable NHL career, including being part of a Stanley Cup championship with the Washington Capitals in 2018.

“Growing up, there wasn’t always a clear path to pro hockey or to the NHL, or a successful hockey career, because it’s a small area. Hockey is big there, but comparatively to other markets it’s not a huge hockey place,” Copley says of his Alaska roots.

“I think it was a long journey. In my mind I always thought I first wanted to play junior hockey, so I’d see guys play junior hockey and I thought, ‘I can do that; I can play like that goalie.’ And then when I got to college it was kind of the

same thing. For me, it was just kind of incremental. And I really wasn’t thinking about the NHL. Just get to the next level and do what I have to do to get to that next level. Just make the adjustments and believe that I could make the next level and just see the big picture.”

While Alaska was where his hockey career first started developing into an eventual pro career, it was also where Copley spent much of his free time fishing with his stepdad and brothers. It’s simply ingrained in his and other Last Frontier residents’ DNA.

“Everyone in Alaska kind of partakes in things like that, because there’s only so much to do in Alaska, and that’s one of the biggest things you can do,” he tells me. “When you’re up there, even if you really wouldn’t necessarily be a fisherman, if you’re going to live there, somebody will ask you to go fishing, and they’ll say, ‘I’ve got a really good spot.’”

“When I think about fishing right now, when you’re out on the ocean or the river, it’s just so peaceful. Just waking up and fishing. I remember a couple times being out on our kayaks and then heading back to shore,”he adds.“There are some glacial- fed rivers we’ll jump in, and the water’s freezing cold, but it’s so refreshing; the mountains are all around you. It’s quite the place. But that’s what I think about in my Alaska memories.”

THIS IS COPLEY’S SECOND tour in Southern California. His first wasn’t so great. In 2010, as an 18-year-old, Copley hoped to get some more exposure for a chance to play Division I college hockey – he eventually spent two years at Michigan Tech University – so he joined the California Titans, a Simi Valley-based team in the North American Prospects Hockey League.

But his one year didn’t go as he hoped for. “I came down here as a 17-year-old to play under-18s, and I ended up being the backup goalie on that team, so I didn’t really get to play a lot. It was a little bit of a frustrating setback year where I just thought, ‘Now what am I going to do?’”

But he found a gig in the North American Hockey League, which helped pave the way for his journey that led to NHL stints with the St. Louis Blues, the Capitals and now the Kings since the 2022-23 season.

He put together one of his best seasons in Los Angeles that year. With the team’s goalies Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen ineffective, Copley led the playoff-bound Kings in starts (35) and wins (24). His story of career perseverance earned him the Kings’ nomination for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to one player each year for his inspirational backstory.

That moxie was tested again the following season. In practice, Copley suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament, which cost him the season after knee surgery.

“I felt like I worked so hard in the years leading up to my first season in L.A., and I finally got a break and had a good season. I knew I needed to follow up with a good year, and it was kind of up and down to start, then the knee injury happened.

It was frustrating, for sure, having that setback after preparing for so long to have that opportunity,” he says.

“I guess in a way it allowed me to have a fresh slate after taking off that much time, where I could really input things into my game that would help me or take things out that won’t. It kind of helped me do some introspection. It was obviously a tough time for that to happen. But I feel good now and feel like I’m better for having to go through that.”

At 33, having rehabbed from surgery and playing well for the Reign – they’ll start the AHL Calder Cup playoffs later this month – Copley says he still has plenty of hockey left in him, but he also is dabbling in the business sector as co-owner of a tea company, Athletes Apothecary (athletesapothecary.com) with wife Jess. Their blends have effective pregame and recovery benefits. “I usually just drink one that I’m making for me before and during the game, and then after the game I’ll go home and have the nighttime one. I drink that one every single night,” he says.

WHILE IT’S LIKELY COPLEY will stay with the Reign through the team’s playoff run, he’s also most likely to be the first goalie called up if the Kings need one for their

own postseason run after the regular season ends on April 17. But while he’s patiently waited throughout his career for the NHL opportunities he received, there’s no reason to stress. A good cup of his tea helps as well.

“I don’t really think about that too much. I’m just trying to do the best I can and the cards will fall wherever they may. I try to put myself into a good position to get called up,” he says of being that one phone call away. “I know it could happen at any time, or it can’t. It’s out of my control, so I’m trying to control what I can control and do my job as best I can. If that’s in the cards, then I’m ready to go.”

Whenever this season ends, Copley will head back to Alaska, where he spends part of his summers joining his family on a fishing float trip down the Gulkana River, but as he continues his run in Southern California, he hopes to get out for some fishing, Golden State-style.

“I’ve talked to some of the guys about going out and getting a charter, and I’ve heard about the great halibut fishing. I think it would be cool,” he says.

I’m a diehard fan of the Kings’Northern California rival San Jose Sharks, but add Copley to my list of jovial hockey players I’m rooting for. -Chris Cocoles